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A history of courage, strength and endurance ... a future that promises to carry on that tradition

3rd Canadian Division has a proud military tradition dating back to the First World War. In late December 1915, 3rd Canadian Division was formed in France from units and formations already across the Atlantic.

3rd Canadian Division was part of such storied battles as Mount Sorrel, the Somme, Vimy Ridge, and Passchendaele. It was during World War One that the 3rd Canadian Division was assigned a French Grey divisional patch, the same colour that will now be worn by members of the Division. At the end of the First World War, 3rd Canadian Division was disbanded, but it was reconstituted as the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division during the Second World War.

3rd Division was the only Canadian division to participate in the initial D-Day landings on the Normandy coast on 6th June 1944. The Division then played a key role during the campaigns in Normandy, the Channel ports, the Scheldt Estuary, the Rhineland, and the liberation of Holland. During World War II, soldiers of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division also wore the French Grey divisional patch on the shoulders of their uniform. At the end of the Second World War, 3rd Canadian Infantry Division was once again demobilized.

It was briefly reconstituted under the Canadian Army Occupation Force in Germany, but was ultimately disbanded in June 1946.

In more recent times, what is now 3rd Canadian Division was known as Land Force Western Area. Land Force Western Area was established on 1st September 1991 as one of four area commands of the Canadian Army, and commanded all Regular and Reserve Army formations and units in Western Canada.

The line formations of Western Area included 1 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group, 38 Canadian Brigade Group, 39 Canadian Brigade Group, and 41 Canadian Brigade Group. Also part of Land Force Western Area were 1 Area Support Group and its bases, 4 Canadian Ranger Patrol Group, and the Western Area Training Centre. In more than 20 years, the formations and units of Western Area made enormous contributions to operations here in Canada, and in locales such as the Balkans and Afghanistan.